Brokers say Insurance Amendment Bill 2018 will kill sector

Insurance brokers said Thursday that the Insurance Amendment Bill 2018 is punitive and will kill the sector.

Association of Insurance Brokers of Kenya (AIBK) chairman Nelson Omollo said if passed, it will lead to job losses and closure of businesses.

In the proposed bill, customers will be able to submit their premiums directly to insurance companies.

Under the current arrangement, brokers collect premiums from customers to the insurance companies. This link has been removed in the new amendment.

“What the law proposes is that insurance brokers should not handle premium payment to the insurer yet we all know that insurance brokers are the intermediaries, meaning that we get insurance consumers and take their business to be insured," Mr Omollo said.

Dennis Nyongesa, a board member at AIBK, also said the insurance brokers will be phased out of business once that bill is approved in the Parliament.

“As business people and if we are told not to handle premiums whether it is cash or cheques, then we shall be thrown out of business and clients will go direct to the insurance companies," he said.

The brokers were speaking during the 13th Annual AIBK regional conference at Sarova Whitesands Hotel in Mombasa.

Mr Omolo said as brokers, they will lobby for the law to be changed and if it is not, they will move to court to stop its implementation.